Storage medium having interactive graphic stream and apparatus for reproducing the same

ABSTRACT

A storage medium including an interactive graphic stream providing menus using various transition effects regardless of reproducing modes of multimedia data and an apparatus for reproducing the same. The storage medium in which multimedia information is recorded includes: video data; and graphic data to provide a menu screen overlaid on an image based on the video data, wherein the graphic data provides a plurality of menu pages. Accordingly, a plurality of menu pages may be provided regardless of application types of a main stream, and various transition effects may be applied when transitions between menu pages are performed.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of Korean Application No. 2004-2412, filed Jan. 13, 2004, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, and 2004-35078, filed on May 18, 2004 in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein in their entirety by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to reproduction of multimedia data, and, more particularly, to a storage medium including an interactive graphic stream providing menus using various transition effects regardless of reproducing modes of multimedia data. The present invention also relates to an apparatus to reproduce multimedia data.

2. Description of the Related Art

In order to reproduce multimedia data, AV data, navigation data to control reproduction of the AV data, and system data are recorded in the storage medium. The system data includes introduction information of a title of AV data to be first reproduced when a storage medium is inserted in a reproducing apparatus. Besides this data, additional data may be included in the storage medium. In particular, various kinds of information required to reproduce video, audio, subtitles, and menus are multiplexed into one main stream and recorded in the AV data.

FIG. 1 is a configuration of AV data in which various elemental streams are multiplexed. Referring to FIG. 1, a video stream 102, an audio stream 104, a presentation graphic stream 106 to provide subtitles, and an interactive graphic stream 108 to provide a menu screen of an interaction with a user are multiplexed into one main stream and recorded in a storage medium in which multimedia data is recorded. Hereinafter, the multiplexed main stream is called AV data 110.

In particular, the interactive graphic stream 108 to provide a menu screen to allow an interaction with a user includes a plurality of segments. FIG. 2 is a configuration of the interactive graphic stream 108 out of the elemental streams shown in FIG. 1.

Referring to FIG. 2, the interactive graphic stream 108 includes a plurality of segments. A unit displayed on one screen from an interactive composition segment (ICS) to an end segment is called a display set. One display set includes, but is not limited to including:

1) An ICS to record composition information of an interactive graphic;

2) A palette definition segment (PDS) to define palette information of color and/or clearness which is to be applied to the interactive graphic;

3) A plurality of object definition segments (ODSs) to define object data, including image information such as buttons, to be displayed on a screen;

4) An end segment indicating the end of the display set.

In particular, the ICS includes output termination time information of a relative display set, button composition information, and operation information of a reproducing apparatus according to a user operation. The ICS may be realized using an ICS data structure.

Each segment included in one display set is recorded in a packetized elementary stream (PES), which is a packet unit of an MPEG-2 transport stream (TS). The relative display set starts to be decoded at a decoding time stamp (DTS) included in the PES and starts to be outputted to a display screen at a presentation time stamp (PTS).

Also, an output termination time of the relative display set is determined by a value of a composition_time_out_pts field recorded in the ICS. The composition_time_out_pts field will be described later. Accordingly, the interactive graphic stream 108 is output to the screen at a designated time (PTS), receives a user operation, performs corresponding operations, and disappears from the screen at the determined output termination time (composition_time_out_pts).

Due to the data structure as is described above, the ICS has the following disadvantages. First, where a plurality of page menus are provided, since movement to preceding and subsequent menu pages is possible only through a user operation according to a general menu characteristic, a PTS defined in a PES packet including an ICS has a meaning only in a first menu page, and PTSs in subsequent pages do not have any meaning. Therefore, in order to construct a plurality of page menus, an application type of a main stream should be set to a browsable slide show. That is, in a case where a main stream is a movie application, a plurality of page menus cannot be realized. Second, a transition effect between menu pages in a plurality of page menus cannot be provided.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a storage medium having recorded thereon an interactive graphic stream providing a plurality of page menus even in a case where a main stream is a movie application and an apparatus to reproduce the same.

The present invention also provides a storage medium having recorded thereon an interactive graphic stream by which various transition effects may be applied when transitions between pages are performed and an apparatus for reproducing the same.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a storage medium in which multimedia information is recorded, comprising: video data; and graphic data to provide a menu screen overlaid on an image based on the video data, wherein the graphic data provides a plurality of menu pages.

The graphic data may include composition information and object information of menus.

The graphic data may further include color information of the menu screen.

The composition information of the menus may include information of the plurality of menu pages.

The information of the plurality of menu pages may be identified by a unique identification (ID) for each page.

The information of the plurality of menu pages may further include information of transition effects applied when transitions between the plurality of menu pages are performed.

The information of the transition effects may be designated for each button included in the plurality of menu pages, for each menu page included in the plurality of menu pages, or for each group for some buttons included in the plurality of menu pages.

The information of the plurality of menu pages may further include duration information to designate a predetermined menu page to automatically disappear from a display screen when a user operation does not take place during a predetermined duration after the predetermined menu page is displayed.

The information of transition effects may include at least one of a menu page transition effect, a button transition effect, and a button animation effect.

The composition information of the menus may be a composition segment of a display set of an MPEG-2 transport stream.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a multimedia reproducing apparatus comprising: a decoder decoding video data; and a graphic decoder decoding graphic data to provide a menu screen overlaid on an image based on the video data, wherein the graphic decoder provides a plurality of menu pages.

The apparatus may further include a memory storing a unique ID of a currently reproduced menu page.

The graphic decoder may provide a page transition effect by setting the memory as a unique ID of a menu page to be changed.

Additional and/or other aspects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows and, in part, will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and/or other aspects and advantages of the invention will become apparent and more readily appreciated from the following description of the embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings of which:

FIG. 1 is a configuration of AV data in which various elemental streams are multiplexed;

FIG. 2 is a configuration of an interactive graphic stream of the elemental streams shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a configuration of an interactive composition segment to provide a plurality of menu pages according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an apparatus to reproduce AV data according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of an interactive graphic decoder, which processes an interactive graphic stream and is a part of the reproducing apparatus shown in FIG. 4, according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is an example of the interactive composition segment to provide a plurality of menu pages according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIGS. 7A through 7D are definitions of data to illustrate fields of the interactive composition segment according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8 illustrates an example in which an animation effect is applied to button objects in the same menu page according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 9 illustrates an example of a screen transition effect between different menus using a plurality of screen transition objects according to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 10 illustrates an example of the interactive composition segment to apply a screen transition effect in page units according to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 11 illustrates the screen transition effect in page units shown in FIG. 10 on a time axis;

FIG. 12 is an example of an interactive composition segment including an operation of designating a time point at which a menu page disappears from a screen when a user operation does not take place over a predetermined duration according to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 13 is an example of a status register included in a reproducing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 14 illustrates a page selection model when an interactive graphic stream is processed;

FIG. 15 illustrates an initializing procedure shown in FIG. 14;

FIG. 16 illustrates a processing procedure due to a reproducing state change shown in FIG. 14; and

FIG. 17 illustrates a processing procedure due to generation of a page transition request shown in FIG. 14.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

Reference will now be made in detail to the present embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to the like elements throughout. The embodiments are described below in order to explain the present invention by referring to the figures.

FIG. 3 is an example of the interactive composition segment (ICS) shown in FIG. 2. More specifically, FIG. 3 shows a configuration of an ICS 300 to provide a plurality of menu pages according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 3, the ICS 300 includes a plurality of menu pages 310. Each menu page 310 includes a group of a plurality of buttons constructing one menu screen and is identified by a page identification (ID) page_id 312. That is, a plurality of menu pages 310 are included in one ICS 300, and transition effect information 314, applied when another page is transited to a relative page, is included in one menu page 310.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an apparatus to reproduce AV data 110 according to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 4, the reproducing apparatus includes a read unit 410, a demultiplexer 420, a plurality of decoders 430 through 460, and a blender 470.

In detail, the read unit 410 reads the multiplexed AV data 110 from a storage medium 400 and transmits the read AV data 110 to the demultiplexer 420. The demultiplexer 420 divides the transmitted AV data 110 into a video stream 102, an audio stream 104, a presentation graphic stream 106, and an interactive graphic stream 108 according to data types and transmits the divided streams 102 through 108 to the corresponding decoders 430 through 460, respectively. Each stream transmitted to the corresponding decoder is decoded according to a data type thereof and waits to be output to a screen at a designated time. The decoded video stream 102, presentation graphic stream 106, and/or interactive graphic stream 108 are overlaid into one image by the blender 470. A selected image is output to the screen based on an output state set by a user. For example, the output state of the reproducing apparatus may be controlled on the basis of user selection such as on/off of subtitles and mute audio.

In particular, the interactive graphic decoder 450 receives the interactive graphic stream 108 from the storage medium 400, decodes the received interactive graphic stream 108, and outputs a menu screen including buttons on the screen at a designated time. The user selection may be input by the user selecting a specific button in the output menu screen. That is, a user interactive operation may be provided.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of the interactive graphic decoder 450, which processes the interactive graphic stream 108 and is a part of the reproducing apparatus shown in FIG. 4, according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 5, in the AV data 110 read from the storage medium 400, only the interactive graphic stream 108 is selectively transmitted to a transmission buffer 504 through a packet identifier (PID) filter 502 and decoded by the interactive graphic decoder 450.

The interactive graphic stream 108 is temporarily stored in a coding data buffer 512 in the interactive graphic decoder 450 and is later transmitted to a stream graphic processor 514. After the transmitted interactive graphic stream 108 is decoded by the stream graphic processor 514, object data to define button images is transmitted to an object buffer 516, and composition information of buttons is transmitted to a composition buffer 518. A graphic controller 520 constructs an output image by referring to composition information, which is stored in the composition buffer 518, corresponding to each transmitted object data and transmits the constructed image to a graphic plane 530. That is, at a PTS, which is an output beginning time of the interactive graphic stream 108, an image to be output onto a current screen is determined under a control of the graphic controller 520, and the determined image is transmitted from the object buffer 516 to the graphic plane 530. The transmitted image is output by referring to a color lookup table (CLUP) 532 according to color information included in its associated composition information. Also, the graphic controller 520 changes a button state according to movement or selection of a button by receiving a user operation (UOP). The graphic controller then reflects the changing result on the screen output.

In particular, the ICS 300 shown in FIG. 3 is decoded and stored in the composition buffer 518. The graphic controller 520 controls an output of a graphic image stored in the object buffer 516 by referring to decoded ICS information stored in the composition buffer 518.

FIG. 6 is an example of an ICS to provide a plurality of menu pages according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 6, an example of a syntax structure of an ICS according to an embodiment of the present invention is illustrated. The ICS includes a plurality of menu pages 610, and each menu page includes a plurality of buttons 612.

FIGS. 7A through 7D are definitions of data for illustrating fields of the ICS according to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIGS. 6 and 7A through 7D, a semantic structure of each field of the ICS will now be described in detail.

-   -   1) segment_type: This is a field to indicate an ICS.     -   2) segment_length: This is a field to indicate the number of         bytes of the ICS.     -   3) composition_number: This is a field to indicate a unique         value of the ICS in an interactive graphic stream. When the ICS         is changed or updated, the value sequentially increases from 0.     -   4) composition_state: This is a field to indicate types of a         display set included in the ICS.

In detail, FIG. 7A illustrates the types of the display set included in the ICS. Referring to FIG. 7A, the interactive graphic stream is comprised of units, each unit being called an epoch, in consideration of an operating model of the interactive graphic decoder 450 described above. All of interactive graphic objects included in one epoch are decoded by the interactive graphic decoder 450 and continuously stored in the object buffer 516 included in the interactive graphic decoder 450, and unless next epoch data is input, the contents are equally maintained. Accordingly, in one epoch, the interactive graphic objects, which have been decoded and stored in the object buffer 516, may be reused without decoding the interactive graphic objects every time. However, when one epoch ends and a subsequent epoch starts, all of buffers in the interactive graphic decoder 450 are reset, and all stored data disappears. Also, when the buffers in the interactive graphic decoder 450 are reset may be defined as a predetermined time in one epoch.

A display set is defined as an output unit of the interactive graphic objects as described in FIG. 3. The display set indicates a set of interactive graphic objects output onto one screen, and one epoch may include at least one display set. There exist three types of the display set. First, the display set in an epoch start (ES) state indicates the start of an epoch and includes all data to output interactive graphics, such as interactive graphic composition information required to construct the interactive graphics and object data to be used to construct button images. Second, the display set in an acquisition point (AP) state may exist after the ES display set, and the AP display set includes all information to construct the interactive graphics of a case in which a user randomly searches. Third, the display set in a normal case (NC) includes only data to be changed out of the interactive graphics constructed by a previous display set, i.e., only data to be updated. A plurality of display sets may be included in one epoch as shown in FIG. 7A. The epoch begins with the ES display set, and the AP or NC display set may follow the ES display set. The ES display set is necessarily included in one epoch, and the AP or NC display set is selectively included.

Referring to FIG. 6, each field of the ICS will now be described in succession.

-   -   5) composition_update_flag: This is a field indicating a         correlation of button commands between a previous ICS and a         current ICS.

In detail, FIG. 7B illustrates definitions of a composition_update_flag value. Referring to FIG. 7B, when the composition_update_flag value is “0b,” button commands of a previous ICS and a current ICS are all the same, and when the composition_update_flag value is “1b,” the button commands are changed.

-   -   6) composition_time_out_pts: This is a field indicating an         interactive display terminating time. At the terminating time,         the ICS is neither valid any more nor displayed on the screen. A         PTS refers to a PTS of main video.     -   7) UO_mark_table: This is a field indicating whether to allow         user operations for all interactive display durations defined in         the ICS.     -   8) animation_frame_rate_code: This is a field to designate a         frame rate applied to button transition effects and/or moving         buttons.     -   9) default_selected_page_id: This is a field indicating a page         ID of a page basically displayed when reproduction of the ICS         begins.

A basic definition portion of the ICS has been described, and page structures indicating a plurality of pages are included in the ICS. A configuration of the page structures indicating a plurality of pages will now be described.

-   -   10) page_id: This is a field indicating a unique ID of each page         in the plurality of page structures 610 in the ICS. In an         embodiment of the invention, the reproducing apparatus stores an         ID of a page currently displayed on the screen among the         plurality of pages in the ICS in a system register. A         configuration of the system register will be described with         reference to FIG. 13 later.     -   11) selection_time_out_duration: This is a field to designate a         valid duration during which a button may be selected after an         associated page thereof is displayed on the screen. If the user         does not select a button before the time designated by the         selection_time_out_duration field expires, a button designated         by a default_activated_button_number field to be described later         is activated. Here, the button designated by the         default_activated_button_number field is activated only when the         button designated by the default_activated_button_number field         is valid.     -   12) default_selected_button_number: This is a field to designate         a number of a button basically selected when associated menu         page thereof is displayed on the screen.     -   13) default_activated_button_number: This is a field to         designate a number of a button to be automatically activated in         a case where the user does not select a button from when an         associated menu page thereof is displayed on the screen to when         the time designated by the selection_time_out_duration field         expires. If a value of the default_activated_button_number field         is assigned to “0xFF,” after the time designated by the         selection_time_out_duration field expires, a currently selected         button is activated, and if the value of the         default_activated_button_number field is assigned to “0x00,” no         buttons are activated.

A definition portion of the page structures indicating a plurality of pages has been described, and button structures indicating a plurality of buttons included in each menu page are included in each page structure. A configuration of the button structures indicating a plurality of pages will now be described.

-   -   14) button_number: This is a field indicating a unique ID of         each button in the plurality of button structures in the menu         page. Also, this field may be used when a relative button is         selected using a number. Values from 1 to 99 may be used.     -   15) numerically_selectable_flag: This is a field indicating         whether a relative button may be directly selected using a         button_number field of the button.

In detail, FIG. 7C illustrates whether the button may be directly selected using the button_number field of the button. Referring to FIG. 7C, if a value of the numerically_selectable_flag field is “0b,” the button cannot be directly selected using the button_number field of the button, and if the value of the numerically_selectable_flag field is “1b,” the button may be directly selected using the button_number field of the button.

-   -   16) auto_action_flag: This is a field to designate an operating         mode of a relative button.

In detail, FIG. 7D illustrates operating modes of the button. Referring to FIG. 7D, if a value of the auto_action_flag field is “0b,” when the button is selected, an operating mode of the button is changed to a selected_state mode, and if the value of the auto_action_flag field is “1b,” the operating mode of the button is changed to an actioned_state mode without displaying a button image. The operating modes are defined in a lower portion of FIG. 6.

-   -   17) button_horizontal_position: This is a field to designate a         horizontal position of a top-left pixel of a relative button.     -   18) button_vertical_position: This is a field to designate a         vertical position of the top-left pixel of a relative button.     -   19) upper (lower/left/right)_button_number: This is a field to         designate a button_number field of a button selected by a UOP         using a move_up (down/left/right)_selected_button field when the         button is selected by moving an arrow in a up/down/left/right         direction.     -   20) page_change_start_object_id_normal (selected): This is a         field to designate an ID object_id of a first button object to         display a button of normal (selected)_state having a transition         effect when a menu page is displayed on the screen at the first         time or transited to another menu page.     -   21) page_change_end_object_id_normal (selected): This is a field         to designate an ID object_id of a last button object to display         a button of normal (selected)_state having a transition effect         when a menu page is displayed on the screen at the first time or         transited to another menu page.     -   22) start_object_id_normal (selected): This is a field to         designate an ID object_id of a first button object, which should         be displayed on the screen after displaying of a button object         designated by the page_change_end_object_id_normal (selected)         field is finished.     -   23) end_object_id_normal (selected): This is a field to         designate an ID object_id of a last button object to display the         button of the normal (selected)_state on the screen.     -   24) repeat_normal (selected)_flag: This is a field to designate         whether to continuously repeat an animation of the normal         (selected)_state. If a value of the start_object_id_normal         (selected) field is equal to a value of the end_object_id_normal         (selected) field, the repeat_normal (selected)_flag field has a         value of “0x00.”     -   25) start_object_id_activated: This is a field to designate an         ID object_id of a first button object to display the button of         the actioned_state on the screen.     -   26) end_object_id_activated: This is a field to designate an ID         object_id of a last button object to display the button of the         actioned_state on the screen.     -   27) number_of_button_command: This is a field to indicate the         number of commands related to a relative button. If a value of         the number_of_button_command field is set to 0, the button is         used as only a simple graphic image without a command.     -   28) button_command[cmd_id]: This is a field to store one         navigation command corresponding to one button. If a button is         selected by the user, a corresponding navigation command is         activated.

As is described above, according to the example of the ICS 300 according to an embodiment of the present invention, when a specific menu page is displayed on the screen,

-   -   1) fields 614 to give a screen transition effect of each button         included in the menu page and     -   2) fields 616 to give an animation effect of each button after         the screen transition effect are designated.

Therefore, a manufacturer should produce a plurality of button objects to display desired screen transition effects and a plurality of button objects for animation effects of buttons, which should be continuously displayed on a page after the screen transition effects. As a result of these methods, the manufacturer may provide screen transition effects of various methods.

Basically, in order to provide more dynamic screen transition in button units, whether the number of button objects included between the page_change_start_object_id_normal (selected) field and the page_change_end_object_id_normal (selected) field for each button is not the same does not matter. However, in a case where the same transition effect such as a fade-in/out effect is applied to an entire page, in order to provide a smooth screen transition effect, all buttons included in the page, in an embodiment of the invention, have the same number of button objects included between the page_change_start_object_id_normal (selected) field and the page_change_end_object_id_normal (selected) field. In a case where the screen transition effect is unnecessary, values of the two fields are, in an embodiment of the invention, equal to the value of the start_object_id_normal (selected) field.

An example in which the fields 614 to give a screen transition effect for each button included in the menu page and the fields 616 to give an animation effect for each button after the screen transition effect are used will be described in detail. That is, an example in which the manufacturer produces a plurality of screen transition button objects and applies a screen transition effect between different pages will be described. Where two pages having the same value of the composition_number field are included in an ICS, a first menu page in which page_id=1 is shown in FIG. 8, and a second page in which page_id=2 is shown in FIG. 9.

FIG. 8 illustrates an example in which an animation effect is applied to button objects in the same menu page according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 8, one button having button_number=1 is displayed in the first menu page. For the animation effect, the button includes five different button objects in which object_id=1 through 5. Each button object is changed and displayed according to a frame rate designated in the animation_frame_rate_code field of each button object. Accordingly, the button animation effect may be realized.

FIG. 9 illustrates an example of a screen transition effect between different menus using a plurality of screen transition objects according to another embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 9, the second menu page in which page_id=2 is shown. For example, the user may change the first menu page in which page_id=1 to the second menu page in which page_id=2 by activating a button in which button_number=1 of the first menu page. Here, an effect of showing buttons in which button_number=1, 2, and 3 included in the second menu page in which page_id=2 one by one from the left to the right and from the top to the down as indicated by an arrow 902 will be described. In order to provide the screen transition effect, a plurality of button objects are displayed according to values of the page_change_start_object_id_normal (selected) field and the page_change_end_object_id_normal (selected) field. In detail, in the present embodiment, in a case of the button in which button_number=1, since there is no difference in the sense of sight from the button included in the first menu page in which page_id=1, a button object for the screen transition effect is not additionally included.

Therefore, the values of the page_change_start_object_id_normal (selected) field and the page_change_end_object_id_normal (selected) field designate the same object_id=1 as a value of the start_object_id_normal (selected) field. Accordingly, if the first menu page is transited to the second menu page, the basic animation effect is repeatedly displayed as described in FIG. 8. Here, commands included in the button may be changed according to a manufacturer's purpose.

In a case of buttons in which button_number=2 and 3, in order to provide the screen transition effect, the buttons include a plurality of button objects in which object_id=6 through 9 and object_id=15 through 22, respectively. Accordingly, the screen transition effect as indicated by the arrow 902 is displayed. For each of the buttons in which button_number=2 and 3, after displaying a button object corresponding to the page_change_end_object_id_normal (selected) field of each button, a plurality of button objects for an animation effect existing between a button object indicated by the start_object_id_normal (selected) field and a button object indicated by the end_object_id_normal (selected) field are repeatedly displayed on the screen. Accordingly, the animation effect may be represented along with the screen transition effect.

FIG. 10 illustrates an example of the ICS to apply a screen transition effect in page units according to another embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 10, unlike the methods of performing screen transitions in button units as shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, a method of applying a screen transition effect for each button group defined in a specific page or applying a screen transition effect in page units is illustrated.

In order to perform screen transitions in page units, the page_change_start_object_id_normal (selected) field and the page_change_end_object_id_normal (selected) field used to give the screen transition effect in button units in the example of the syntax structure of the ICS 300 shown in FIG. 6 may be removed, and a field to apply the screen transition effect to an entire menu page may be added.

Referring to FIG. 10, an example of adding a transition_effect field 802 in a page structure in order to apply the screen transition effect in page units is illustrated. That is, a predetermined screen transition effect may be represented by, after predetermined screen transition effects that may be supported by all reproducing apparatuses are pre-defined, allocating attribute values to the pre-defined screen transition effects and designating an attribute value of a screen transition effect desired by the manufacturer to the transition_effect field 802.

FIG. 11 illustrates the screen transition effect in page units shown in FIG. 10 on a time axis.

Referring to FIG. 11, the shown time axis of an interactive graphic stream is equal to a time axis of a video stream. In a PES packet data including an ICS as described in FIGS. 8 and 9, interactive graphic stream data, such as an ICS, a PDS, and an ODS is decoded to fit a decoding time stamp (DTS), which is decoding time information included in the PES packet data during reproduction of video. After the decoding is finished, a page designated by a default_selected_page_id field is displayed on the screen at a PTS, which is presentation time information. In response to a navigation command of a specific button included in the displayed menu page, a screen transition between pages is performed. Also, since a valid interactive display duration is finished at the time designated by a composition_time_out_pts field, the menu page is not displayed on the screen any more.

As is described above, in a plurality of menu pages included in one ICS, transitions between menu pages may be smoothly performed in response to navigation commands allocated to specific buttons of the menu pages in a valid interactive display duration by defining a beginning time (PTS) and an ending time (composition_time_out_pts) of an entire interactive display duration.

FIG. 12 is an example of an ICS including an operation of designating a time point at which a menu page disappears from a screen when a user operation does not take place during a predetermined duration according to another embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 12, the ICS of this embodiment may be used as a pop-up menu during reproduction of a movie. In this case, if a menu displayed on the screen is continuously displayed until a display ending time designated by a composition_time_out_pts field as described in FIG. 11, a user may feel inconvenient when the user watches multimedia video such as high quality movie. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 12, a field to designate a currently displayed menu page to disappear when a predetermined time elapses may be added.

In the present embodiment, a page_disappear_duration field 1202 is defined. That is, the field to designate how long to wait before a current menu page disappears when a UOP does not take place after the current menu page is displayed on the screen is added. In other words, if a manufacturer designates a certain time value to the field, a current menu page is not displayed when the time designated to the field elapses in a state where a UOP does not take place after the current menu page is displayed. Here, data included in the displayed menu page does not disappear, however, the data is just not displayed on the screen.

As is described above, in a case where a plurality of menu pages are included in an ICS, in order to transit to another menu page, one of the buttons included in a previous menu page should have a navigation command to transit to another menu page. That is, the navigation command will be a command to replace a page_id value of a currently displayed menu page with a page_id value of a new menu page to be transited. A reproducing apparatus, according to an embodiment of the present invention, displays the new menu page on the screen on the basis of the replaced page_id value. Therefore, the reproducing apparatus of this embodiment includes menu page information in a system register to store reproduction information of a currently reproducing storage medium. A page transition effect may be realized by the navigation command setting a value of the system register storing menu page information therein.

A page transition process will now be described in detail.

FIG. 13 is an example of a status register included in a reproducing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 13, an example of a system register (player status register: PSR) of the reproducing apparatus to support a plurality of menu pages in the same ICS is illustrated. A PSR11 1302 stores page_id information of a currently reproducing menu page in a specific ICS of an interactive graphic stream. A page transition may be performed by one of buttons included in the ICS re-establishing the PSR11 1302 using a navigation command.

FIG. 14 illustrates a page selection model when an interactive graphic stream is processed.

Referring to FIG. 14, a process required to display a proper page in an ICS when the reproducing apparatus processes the interactive graphic stream is illustrated. Two general statuses 1406 and 1412, each represented as an elliptic shape, and three temporary statuses 1404, 1410, and 1416, each represented as a rectangular shape, are shown. The two general statuses indicate an invalid status 1406 and a valid status 1412. The valid status 1412 indicates a state of reproducing a valid epoch of a current interactive graphic stream. The invalid status 1412 indicates a reproduction stop state or a state in which a valid interactive graphic stream does not exist even if the status is in the reproducing state. A general status as described above maintains a current state unless a transition to another status is generated.

A transition, such as a reference number 1402, 1408, 1414, or 1418, is generated by a reproducing state change, a UOP, or a navigation command. If the transition is generated, a processing procedure, such as a reference number 1404, 1410, or 1416, proceeds in order to obtain a proper interactive graphic stream and page information. The four transitions are disc inserting 1402, going to the valid status 1408, page transiting 1414, and going to the invalid status 1418.

Each transition process will now be described in detail.

FIG. 15 illustrates the initializing procedure 1404 shown in FIG. 14. Referring to FIGS. 14, 13, and 15, when a storage medium is inserted in the reproducing apparatus, the reproducing apparatus moves to the initializing status 1404, which is a temporary status, in order to obtain a proper interactive graphic stream and page information. In the initializing status 1404, a procedure of setting the PSR is performed as shown in FIG. 15. That is, an initial value 0 is set to the PSR11 storing a page_id value of a menu page to be first displayed. The reproducing apparatus moves to the invalid status 1406 after the initializing procedure 1404.

FIG. 16 illustrates the processing procedure 1410 due to a reproducing state change shown in FIG. 14.

Referring to FIG. 16, the invalid status 1406 is continuously maintained until a valid epoch of an interactive graphic stream begins, and if a transition of beginning to reproduce the valid epoch of the interactive graphic stream is generated such as the reference number 1408, the reproducing apparatus moves to the reproducing state change status 1410. In the reproducing state change status 1410, the processing procedure shown in FIG. 16 is performed. That is, a default_selected_page_id value is read from an ICS in operation 1602, and if the value is a valid page_id value, the value is set to the PSR11 in operation 1606, and if the value is invalid, whether a current PSR11 value is a valid page_id value is checked. Based on the result of the checking, if the current PSR11 is already set to a valid page_id value, the current PSR11 value is maintained in operation 1608, and if the current PSR11 value is invalid, a first pageid_value of the ICS is set as the PSR11 value in operation 1610. Accordingly, the reproducing apparatus is changed from the invalid status 1406 to the valid status 1412.

FIG. 17 illustrates the processing procedure 1416 due to generation of a page transition request shown in FIG. 14.

Referring to FIGS. 14 and 17, a specific page of the ICS selected through the procedure 1410 described in FIG. 16 maintains the valid status 1412 until the time designated by the composition_time_out_pts field unless a UOP takes place. However, in a case where a UOP of activating a button to which a navigation command to transit to another page is allocated, such as the reference number 1414, is received, the valid status 1412 is transited to the processing status 1416 due to generation of a page transition request.

In the processing status 1416 due to generation of a page transition request, the processing procedure shown in FIG. 17 is performed. That is, if a value X of page_id for which a page transition request is generated is valid, the PSR11 is set to X in operation 1702, and if the value X is invalid, a current page_id value is maintained in operation 1704. As is described above, when the processing procedure 1416 due to generation of a page transition request is finished, the valid status 1412 is maintained.

In a case where the time designated by the composition_time_out_pts field of a currently reproduced ICS elapses, or in a case where the interactive graphic stream is changed, since a currently displayed page becomes invalid, the valid status 1412 is transited to the invalid status 1406. That is, if a transition such as the reference number 1418 is generated, a last page_id value stored in the PSR11 is maintained.

As is described above, according to embodiments of the present invention, an ICS structure of an interactive graphic stream including a plurality of menu pages and a model of selecting a proper page in an ICS are provided.

Accordingly, a plurality of menu pages may be provided regardless of application types of a main stream.

Also, various transition effects may be applied when transitions between menu pages are performed.

Although a few embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described, it would be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes may be made in these embodiments without departing from the principles and spirit of the invention, the scope of which is defined in the claims and their equivalents. 

1. A storage medium in which multimedia information is recorded, comprising: video data; and graphic data to provide a menu screen overlaid on an image based on the video data, wherein the graphic data provides a plurality of menu pages.
 2. The storage medium of claim 1, wherein the graphic data comprises composition information and object information of menus.
 3. The storage medium of claim 2, wherein the graphic data further comprises color information of the menu screen.
 4. The storage medium of claim 2, wherein the composition information of the menus comprises information of the plurality of menu pages.
 5. The storage medium of claim 4, wherein the information of the plurality of menu pages is identified by a unique identification (ID) for each page.
 6. The storage medium of claim 5, wherein the information of the plurality of menu pages further comprises information of transition effects applied when transitions between the plurality of menu pages are performed.
 7. The storage medium of claim 6, wherein the information of the transition effects is designated for each button included in the plurality of menu pages.
 8. The storage medium of claim 6, wherein the information of the transition effects is designated for each menu page included in the plurality of menu pages.
 9. The storage medium of claim 6, wherein the information of the transition effects is designated for each group for some buttons included in the plurality of menu pages.
 10. The storage medium of claim 6, wherein the information of the plurality of menu pages further comprises duration information to designate a predetermined one of the menu pages to automatically disappear from a display screen when a user operation does not take place during a predetermined duration after the predetermined menu page is displayed.
 11. The storage medium of claim 6, wherein the information of transition effects comprises at least one of a menu page transition effect, a button transition effect, or a button animation effect.
 12. The storage medium of claim 2, wherein the composition information of the menus is a composition segment of a display set of an MPEG-2 transport stream.
 13. A multimedia reproducing apparatus comprising: a decoder decoding video data; and a graphic decoder decoding graphic data to provide a menu screen overlaid on an image based on the video data, wherein the graphic decoder provides a plurality of menu pages.
 14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the graphic decoder decodes composition information and object information of menus.
 15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the graphic decoder further decodes color information of the menu screen.
 16. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the composition information of the menus comprises information of the plurality of menu pages, and the graphic decoder provides a plurality of menu pages by decoding the information of the plurality of menu pages.
 17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the information of the plurality of menu pages is identified by a unique identification (ID) for each page.
 18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the information of the plurality of menu pages further comprises information of transition effects applied when transitions between the plurality of menu pages are performed.
 19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the information of the transition effects is designated for each button included in the plurality of menu pages.
 20. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the information of the transition effects is designated for each menu page included in the plurality of menu pages.
 21. The apparatus of claim 20, further comprising: a memory storing a unique ID of a currently reproduced menu page, wherein the graphic decoder provides a page transition effect by setting the memory as a unique ID of a menu page to be changed.
 22. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the information of the transition effects is designated for each group for some buttons included in the plurality of menu pages.
 23. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the information of the plurality of menu pages further comprises duration information to designate a predetermined one of the menu pages to automatically disappear from a display screen when a user operation does not take place during a predetermined duration after the predetermined menu page is displayed.
 24. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the information of transition effects comprises at least one of a menu page transition effect, a button transition effect, and a button animation effect.
 25. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the composition information of the menus is a composition segment of a display set of an MPEG-2 transport stream.
 26. A configuration of an Interactive Composition Segment (ICS) to provide a plurality of menu pages comprising: a plurality of menu pages each including a plurality of buttons constructing one menu screen and each being identified by a page identification; transition effect information, to be applied when another page is transited to a relative page, included in at least one of the menu pages.
 27. A multimedia reproducing apparatus including a storage medium storing multiplexed AV data of an Interactive Composition Segment (ICS) to reproduce the multiplexed AV data, comprising: a read unit to read the multiplexed AV data from the storage medium; a demultiplexer to divide the AV data into at least a video stream, an audio stream, a presentation graphic stream, and an interactive graphic stream; a plurality of decoders to decode the video stream, the audio stream, the presentation graphic stream, and the interactive graphic stream; and a blender to overlay the video stream, the presentation graphic stream, and/or the interactive graphic stream into one image.
 28. The apparatus according to claim 27, wherein the plurality of decoders includes an interactive graphic decoder to receive the interactive graphic stream, to decode the received interactive graphic stream, and to output a menu screen including buttons at a designated time.
 29. The apparatus according to claim 28, wherein a user selection may be input by a user selecting a specific button in the output menu screen such that a user interactive operation may be provided.
 30. The apparatus according to claim 28, wherein the interactive graphic decoder comprises: a coding buffer to temporarily store the interactive graphic stream; a stream graphic processor, to which the temporarily stored graphic stream is later transmitted, to process the interactive graphic stream; an object buffer to which object data to define button images is transmitted after the interactive graphic stream is decoded by the stream graphic processor; a composition buffer to store composition information; and a graphic controller to construct an output image by referring to the composition information corresponding to the object data and to transmit the constructed image to a graphic plane.
 31. The apparatus according to claim 30, wherein the constructed image is transmitted at an output beginning time of the interactive graphic stream.
 32. The apparatus according to claim 30, wherein the transmitted image is output by referring to a color lookup table (CLUP) according to color information included in the associated composition information thereof.
 33. The apparatus according to claim 30, wherein the graphic controller changes a button state according to movement or selection of a button by receiving a user operation (UOP) and reflects the changing result.
 34. The apparatus according to claim 30, wherein the ICS comprises: a segment_type field to indicate the ICS; a segment_length field to indicate a number of bytes of the ICS; a composition_number field to indicate a unique value of the ICS in an interactive graphic stream such that when the ICS is changed or updated, the value sequentially increases; a composition_state field to indicate types of a display set included in the ICS;
 35. The apparatus according to claim 34, wherein the interactive graphic stream is comprised of units, each unit being an epoch having interactive graphic objects therein to be decoded by the interactive graphic decoder and to be continuously stored in the object buffer.
 36. The apparatus according to claim 35, wherein, in one epoch, the interactive graphic objects, which have been decoded and stored in the object buffer, may be reused without decoding the interactive graphic objects, except that, when one epoch ends and a subsequent epoch starts, the buffer in the interactive graphic decoder are reset, and all of the stored data disappears.
 37. The apparatus according to claim 36, wherein when the interactive graphic objects are outputted, the interactive graphic objects define a display set, the display set to indicate a set of outputted interactive graphic objects.
 38. The apparatus according to claim 37, wherein one epoch may include at least one display set.
 39. The apparatus according to claim 36, wherein the display set in an epoch start (ES) state indicates the start of an epoch and includes all data required to construct the interactive graphics and object data to be used to construct button images.
 40. The apparatus according to claim 39, wherein the display set in an acquisition point (AP) state may exist after the ES display set, and the AP display set includes all information to construct the interactive graphics of a case in which a user randomly searches.
 41. The apparatus according to claim 40, wherein the display set in a normal case (NC) includes only data to be changed out of the interactive graphics constructed by a previous display set.
 42. The apparatus according to claim 30, wherein the ICS comprises: a composition_update_flag field to indicate a correlation of button commands between a previous ICS and a current ICS; a composition_time_out_pts a field indicate an interactive display terminating time when the ICS is neither valid displayed; an UO_mark_table field to indicate whether to allow user operations for all interactive display durations defined in the ICS; an animation_frame_rate_code field to designate a frame rate applied to button transition effects and/or moving buttons; and a default_selected_page_id field to indicate a page ID of a page basically displayed when reproduction of the ICS begins.
 43. The apparatus according to claim 30, wherein the ICS comprises: a page_id field to indicate a unique ID of each page in the plurality of page structures in the ICS; a selection_time_out_duration field to designate a valid duration during which a button may be selected after an associated page thereof is displayed on the screen; a default_selected_button_number field to designate a number of a button basically selected when associated menu page thereof is displayed on the screen; and a default_activated_button_number field to designate a number of a button to be automatically activated in a case where the user does not select a button from when an associated menu page thereof is displayed on the screen to when the time designated by the selection_time_out_duration field expires.
 44. The apparatus according to claim 30, wherein the ICS comprises: a button_number field to indicate a unique ID of each button in the plurality of button structures in the menu page; and a numerically_selectable_flag field to indicate whether a relative button may be directly selected using a button_number field of the button.
 45. The apparatus according to claim 30, wherein the ICS comprises: an auto_action_flag field to designate an operating mode of a relative button; a button_horizontal_position field to designate a horizontal position of a top-left pixel of a relative button; a button_vertical_position field to designate a vertical position of the top-left pixel of a relative button; an upper (lower/left/right)_button_number a field to designate a button_number field of a button selected by a UOP using a move_up (down/left/right)_selected_button field when the button is selected by moving an arrow in a up/down/left/right direction; a page_change_start_object_id_normal (selected) field to designate an ID object_id of a first button object to display a button of normal (selected)_state having a transition effect when a menu page is displayed on the screen at the first time or transited to another menu page; a page_change_end_object_id_normal (selected) field to designate an ID object_id of a last button object to display a button of normal (selected)_state having a transition effect when a menu page is displayed on the screen at the first time or transited to another menu page; a start_object_id_normal (selected) field to designate an ID object_id of a first button object, which should be displayed on the screen after displaying of a button object designated by the page_change_end_object_id_normal (selected) field is finished; an end_object_id_normal (selected) field to designate an ID object_id of a last button object to display the button of the normal (selected)_state on the screen; a repeat_normal (selected)_flag field to designate whether to continuously repeat an animation of the normal (selected)_state; a start_object_id_activated field to designate an ID object_id of a first button object to display the button of the actioned_state on the screen; an end_object_id_activated field to designate an ID object_id of a last button object to display the button of the actioned_state on the screen; a number_of_button_command field to indicate the number of commands related to a relative button; and a button_command field to store one navigation command corresponding to one button.
 46. The apparatus according to claim 45, wherein when a specific menu page is displayed on the screen, fields to give a screen transition effect of each button included in the menu page and fields to give an animation effect of each button after the screen transition effect are designated.
 47. The apparatus according to claim 45, wherein where the transition effect is applied to an entire page all buttons included in the page have the same number of button objects included between the page_change_start_object_id_normal (selected) field and the page_change_end_object_id_normal (selected) field.
 48. The apparatus according to claim 46, wherein the values of the page_change_start_object_id_normal (selected) field and the page_change_end_object_id_normal (selected) field designate the same object_id=1 as a value of the start_object_id_normal (selected) field, such that, if the first menu page is transited to the second menu page, the basic animation effect is repeatedly displayed.
 49. The apparatus according to claim 46, wherein, the page_change_start object_id_normal (selected) field and the page_change_end_object_id_normal (selected) field used to give the screen transition effect in button units in the example of the syntax structure of the ICS may be removed, and a field to apply the screen transition effect to an entire menu page may be added.
 50. The apparatus according to claim 49, wherein a predetermined screen transition effect may be represented by, after predetermined screen transition effects that may be supported by all reproducing apparatuses are pre-defined, allocating attribute values to the pre-defined screen transition effects and designating an attribute value of a screen transition effect.
 51. A configuration of an Interactive Composition Segment (ICS) to provide a plurality of menu pages comprising: a plurality of menu pages each including a plurality of buttons constructing one menu screen and each being identified by a page identification id; transition effect information, to be applied when another page is transited to a relative page, included in at least one of the menu pages, wherein transitions between menu pages may be smoothly performed in response to navigation commands allocated to specific buttons of the menu pages in a valid interactive display duration by defining a beginning time and an ending time of an entire interactive display duration.
 52. The configuration according to claim 51, wherein where the ICS is a pop-up menu such that, if a menu displayed on the screen is continuously displayed until the ending time, a field to designate a currently displayed menu page to disappear when a predetermined time elapses may be added.
 53. A method of displaying a proper page in an interactive composition segment (ICS) when a reproducing apparatus processes an interactive graphic stream, comprising: providing general statuses to indicate a state of a reproduction of a valid and invalid epoch of a current interactive graphic stream and temporary statuses to indicate a reproduction stop state or a state in which a valid interactive graphic stream does not exist even if the status is in the reproducing state; reproducing a state change, a user operation, or a navigation command to generate a transition; and obtaining a proper interactive graphic stream and page information if the transition is generated.
 54. The method according to claim 53, wherein the transition comprises: disc inserting; going to the valid status; page transiting; and going to the invalid status.
 55. A storage medium in which multimedia information is recorded, comprising: video data; and streaming graphic data to provide a menu screen overlaid on an image based on the video data, wherein the graphic data provides a plurality of menu pages.
 56. A multimedia reproducing apparatus comprising: a decoder decoding video data; and a graphic decoder decoding streaming graphic data to provide a menu screen overlaid on an image based on the video data, wherein the graphic decoder provides a plurality of menu pages.
 57. A configuration of an Interactive Composition Segment (ICS) to provide a plurality of menu pages comprising: a plurality of menu pages, each including a plurality of buttons to construct a menu screen and each being identified by a page identification, such that a proper menu page may be selected; transition effect information, to be applied when another page is transited to a relative page, included in at least one of the menu pages, the transition effect information relating to various transition effects. 